Video art emerged as an art form that from the 1960s and onwards challenged the concept of art - hence, art historical practices. From the perspective of artists, critics, and scholars engaged with this new medium, art was seen as too limiting a notion. Important issues were to re-think art as a means for critical investigations and a demand for visual reconsiderations. Likewise, art history was argued to be in crisis and in need of adapting its theories and methods in order to produce interpretations and thereby establish historical sense for moving images as fine art. Yet, as this book argues, video art history has evolved into a discourse clinging to traditional concepts, ideologies, and narrative structures - manifested in an increasing body of texts. Video Art Historicized provides a novel, insightful and also challenging re-interpretation of this field by examining the discourse and its own premises. It takes a firm conceptual approach to the material, examining the conceptual, theoretical, and methodological implications that are simultaneously contested by both artists and authors, yet intertwined in both the legitimizing and the historicizing processes of video as art. By engaging art history's most debated concepts (canon, art, and history) this study provides an in-depth investigation of the mechanisms of the historiography of video art. Scrutinizing various narratives on video art, the book emphasizes the profound and widespread hesitations towards, but also the efforts to negotiate, traditional concepts and practices. By focusing on the politics of this discourse, theoretical issues of gender, nationality, and particular themes in video art, Malin Hedlin Hayden contests the presumptions that inform video art and its history.

Britain's most widely read author of the late twentieth century, Catherine Cookson published more than 100 books, including The Fifteen Streets, The Black Velvet Gown, and Katie Mulhollond. Set in England's industrial northeast, her novels depict the social, economic, and emotional hardships of that area. In the first essay collection devoted to Cookson, the contributors examine what Cookson's memoirs and historical fiction mean to readers, including how her fans contribute to her position in the cultural imaginary; constructions of gender, class, and English and Irish identity in her work; the importance of place in her novels; Cookson's place in the heritage industry; and television adaptations of Cookson's works. Cookson's work tackled topics that were still taboo in the early post-World War II era, such as domestic abuse, rape, and incest. This collection places Cookson in historical context and shows how skillful she was at pushing generic boundaries.

Intellectual assets - including documents, designs, know-how, software, data, patents and trademarks - are critical to the delivery of innovative, and cost effective, products and services. Despite this many organizations seek to manage their intellectual assets using a range of bolt-on, stand-alone business processes, often divorced from the processes used to manage their services and products. Integrated Intellectual Asset Management explains how to take full advantage of your organization's intellectual assets by integrating their management in six key areas: c decision making systems c strategy c policy and accountabilities c knowledge management c people and behaviour c targets and metrics You can only hope to develop, protect, exploit, and realize the value of your key intellectual assets when you integrate the way you manage them into existing business processes and culture. Integrated Intellectual Asset Management guides you through this process.

This extraordinary book defines and describes librarianship and library science through insightful and thoughtful essays contributed by 17 recognized leaders of the profession. While each essay presents a distinct perspective and approach, collectively they paint a picture of a humane and human profession central to and concerned with the cultural, social, political, and intellectual underpinnings of civilization. Often challenging and provocative, often moving, always engaging, the essays reflect a diverse and complex profession and the values, beliefs, practices, and philosophies that make it unique and vital. The essays take a variety of approaches: historical analysis, personal recollection, career review, political or social commentary, intellectual or philosophical musings, and short and long-term forecasting. Even when the essays address issues of a practical nature, they raise issues of concern in a broader context. The role of libraries in a democratic society is examined through the historical perspective of the Boston Mandate of 1852, the most recent US presidential election, and the current strain of censorship and intellectual freedom battles. What is the proper role of libraries as social organizations advocating societal reform and working toward the common weal? What is the role of government and politics in the profession? What is the responsibility and role of the library in determining or advocating public policy? If, as one essay elegantly and persuasively argues, our professional concern should center not on information or fact, but on truth, can we avoid political action and political repercussion? These are weighty issues addressed not only with passion, but also with a freedom and honesty seldom encountered. This is a powerful and important book that should be read by every librarian, every library student, every public official, indeed, every citizen concerned with his or her community.

Libraries and Key Performance Indicators: A Framework for Practitioners explores ways by which libraries across all sectors can demonstrate their value and impact to stakeholders through quality assurance and performance measurement platforms, including library assessment, evaluation methodologies, surveys, and annual reporting. Whilst several different performance measurement tools are considered, the book's main focus is on one tool in particular: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). KPIs are increasingly being used to measure the performance of library and information services, however, linking KPIs to quality outcomes, such as impact and value can prove very difficult. This book discusses, in detail, the concept of KPIs in the broader context of library assessment and performance measurement. Through reviewing some of the applied theory around using KPIs, along with harvesting examples of current best practices in KPI usage from a variety of different libraries, the book demystifies library KPIs, providing a toolkit for any library to be used in setting meaningful KPIs against targets, charters, service standards, and quality outcomes.

Jump Start Your Career in Library and Information Science is designed to help new librarians begin to manage a successful and satisfying career in the library and information science profession. Although the first years are often overwhelming, they can be the key to creating a successful career as a librarian or information professional. Unless one is fortunate enough to have good mentors or strong support groups, a new librarian may drift into an unsatisfying career. This book emphasizes the value of defining one's own idea of success and of positioning one's self to be prepared to take advantage of opportunities that arise. Although the book is aimed at students and new information professionals, much of the advice may apply to a librarian at any stage of his or her career. This book contains advice and anecdotes gathered from research and interviews with more than 70 information professionals in a variety of library-related careers. The book is written in a practical, easy-to-read style. The modular format allows a reader to read any chapter on its own or to read the chapters in any order, choosing which ones are most relevant at any point. The book covers eight broad topics: career planning, job searching, gaining experience and education, developing interpersonal skills and leadership skills, networking, mentoring, and writing for publication. Lengthy lists of related readings, as well as related web sites, are included to allow the reader to follow up on any topic.

This book critically examines the historical developments and current trends in the scientific scholarly communication system, issues and challenges in scientific scholarly publishing and scientific data sharing, implications and debates associated with the influence of intellectual property rights on scientific information sharing, and new trends related to peer reviewing and measuring the impact of scientific publications. Based on thorough examination of published literature, the book illustrates the involvement of many stakeholders-scientists, science educators, university administrators, government entities, research funders, and other interested parties-in this complex and dynamic system. The discussion highlights the roles these stakeholders have to play, individually and collaboratively, to help transform the future of the scientific scholarly communication system.

This title was first published in 2001. Technology-led developments are changing the nature of the information marketplace. In the face of rapid change, stakeholders and players in the marketplace need to form new strategic alliances, identify new market segments, evolve new products, and, in general, manage changing relationships between suppliers and customers. This work focuses on "information marketing" - the marketing of information based products and services. It studies marketing in contexts and organizations in which information based products and services are a significant product category. Typical information based products include: books, CD's, videos, journals, journal articles, and databases and typical information based services include: libraries, business consultancy services, and web-based information services. Chapters explore concepts such as the structure of the information marketplace, relationships with customers, marketing communications, and marketing planning and strategy.

For many in the West, Romania is synonymous with Count Dracula. Since the publication of Bram Stoker's famous novel in 1897 Transylvania (and by extension, Romania) has become inseparable in the Western imagination with Dracula, vampires and the supernatural. Moreover, since the late 1960s Western tourists have travelled to Transylvania on their own searches for the literary and supernatural roots of the Dracula myth. Such 'Dracula tourism' presents Romania with a dilemma. On one hand, Dracula is Romania's unique selling point and has considerable potential to be exploited for economic gain. On the other hand, the whole notion of vampires and the supernatural is starkly at odds with Romania's self-image as a modern, developed, European state. This book examines the way that Romania has negotiated Dracula tourism over the past four decades. During the communist period (up to 1989) the Romanian state did almost nothing to encourage such tourism but reluctantly tolerated it. However, some discrete local initiatives were developed to cater for Dracula enthusiasts that operated at the margins of legality in a communist state. In the post-communist period (after 1989) any attempt to censor Dracula has disappeared and the private sector in Romania has been swift to exploit the commercial possibilities of the Count. However, the Romanian state remains ambivalent about Dracula and continues to be reluctant to encourage or promote Dracula tourism. As such Romania's dilemma with Dracula remains unresolved.

Displaced archives have long been a problem and their existence continues to trouble archivists, historians and government officials. Displaced Archives brings together leading international experts to comprehensively explore the current state of affairs for the first time. Drawing on case studies from around the world, the authors examine displaced archives as a consequence of conflict and colonialism, analysing their impact on government administration, nation building, human rights and justice. Renewed action is advocated through considerations of the legal approaches to repatriation, the role of the international archival community, 'shared heritage' approaches and other solutions. The volume offers new theoretical, technical and political insights and will be essential reading for practitioners, academics and students in the field of archives, cultural property and heritage management, as well as history, politics and international relations.

Since the first MOOC was launched at the University of Manitoba in 2008, this new form of the massification of higher education has been a rollercoaster ride for the university sector. The New York Times famously declared 2012 to be the year of the MOOC. However, by 2014, the number of academic leaders who believed the model was unsustainable doubled to more than 50%. While the MOOC hype has somewhat subsided, the attitudes and anxieties of this peak time can still be seen influencing universities and their administrations. This is the first volume that addresses Massive Open Online Courses from a post-MOOC perspective. We move beyond the initial hype and revolutionary promises of the peak-MOOC period and take a sober look at what endures in an area that is still rapidly growing, albeit without the headlines. This book explores the future of the MOOC in higher education by examining what went right, what went wrong and where to next for the massification of higher education and online learning and teaching. The chapters in this collection address these questions from a wide variety of different backgrounds, methodologies and regional perspectives. They explore learner experiences, the move towards course for credit, innovative design, transformations and implications of the MOOC in turn. This book is valuable reading for students and academics interested in education, eLearning, globalisation and information services.

This volume documents the growing trend for cities and towns throughout America to use museums and libraries as vehicles for economic development. Museums of all types and sizes, and libraries from main street behemoths to neighborhood branches, are being used to stimulate inner-city revitalization as well as neighborhood renewal programs. These public amenities draw citizens, tourists and new development to a city's venues, providing a public place for people to focus and gather. In short, the small public investment paid for these cultural centers is much less then the dollars returned to taxpayers from tourism and economic development.This collection of essays presents case studies from Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Charleston, Christchurch, Cincinnati, Denver, Des Moines, Hartford, Germantown, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Lanark, Little Rock, Memphis, Minneapolis, Miramar, Pekin, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Prince Rupert, St. Louis, St. Paul, San Jose, Seattle, Tacoma, Tallahassee, Toronto, Valencia, and Wakefield. The case study topics include the role of museums and libraries in promoting urban renewal and downtown redevelopment, revitalizing urban centers, enhancing 'smart communities,' influencing eco-friendly municipal construction trends, and stimulating private development. The work includes several regional and national resource directories, a glossary, and an index to facilitate reference to particular communities and projects throughout the country.

Inside the World's Major East Asian Collections examines the rise of the "LAM," an acronym that stands for libraries, archives and museums. In doing so, this book profiles leading experts-librarians, archivists and museum curators-who specialise in East Asian collections from across the world. In examining the dynamically shifting role of the cultural institution in the context of managing information and collections, this book provides important themes offered by these cultural experts in understanding the necessary professional skills, knowledge and personalities that are required for working in such environments of varying size, scope and composition in LAMs. As galleries, LAMs manage preservation and access of history and culture, and their missions and goals as cultural institutions continue to converge. As collecting institutions, LAMs share the common mandate to preserve and make accessible primary resources valuable for researchers and professionals, as well as the public. LAMs are mostly publicly funded, publicly accountable institutions collecting cultural heritage materials. Another aim of this book is to enhance the visibility and recognise the efforts of the LAM professionals as cultural institution leaders, since much of their great contributions in the respective fields to preserving our cultural and documentary heritages have gone unnoticed outside their parent institutions.

Planning a new or refurbished public library means considering not only facilities for collections, services, staff and users, but examining also the local context, reviewing the library image, and developing relationships with other community facilities and agencies. This book examines the entire gamut of challenges confronting the planning and development of contemporary public libraries; their mission, their roles, and key issues such as lifelong learning, social inclusion, community and cultural needs, regeneration and funding. The helpful presentation and readable style guides the librarian through the preliminary information-gathering and decision-making process that ensures a successful library building for all concerned. Using practical case studies, plans and photographs, the author tackles the critical issues of siting, size, plans and design concepts, and provides a helpful guide to weighing up the alternatives of refurbished, converted and new buildings. Separate chapters focus on the planning, briefing and construction process; security, safety and sustainability; key characteristics of successful buildings; identity, decor and signage; and interior layout and facilities. The text draws together a vast resource of real library examples from all over the world which provide best practice models and lessons to learn. For funding authorities, librarians and architects of public libraries this is a highly informative book that will help to ensure wise decision-making and prevent costly mistakes.

For more than 500 years, the Portuguese built or adapted fortifications along the coasts of Africa, Asia and South America. At a macro scale, mapping this network of power reveals a gigantic territorial and colonial project. Forts articulated the colonial and the metropolitan, and functioned as nodes in a mercantile empire, shaping early forms of capitalism, transforming the global political economy, and generating a flood of images and ideas on an unprecedented scale. Today, they can be understood as active material legacies of empire that represent promises, dangers and possibilities. Forts are marks and wounds of the history of human violence, but also timely reminders that buildings never last forever, testimonies of the fluidity of the material world. Illustrated by case studies in Morocco, Cape Verde, SAGBPo Tome and PrA ncipe and Kenya, this book examines how this global but chameleonic network of forts can offer valuable insights into both the geopolitics of Empire and their postcolonial legacies, and into the intersection of colonialism, memory, power and space in the postcolonial Lusophone world and beyond.

How are businesses responding to global changes in markets driven by changes in technology? Whatever the industry, the trends are familiar: globalization and the rise of industrial conglomerates, mergers and acquisitions, the networking of businesses and markets, outsourcing and shifts in the distribution of resources and production, all reflected in the emergence of new players, new products and services and new forms of competition. As arguably the first knowledge-based business, book publishing provides an ideal setting for the study of challenge and opportunity. The industry is currently experiencing fierce levels of competition, extreme financial pressures, restructuring and the threat of technology-induced obsolescence. Added to these are the challenges posed by new and potential entrants to the market, the emergence of new products and services, new ways of doing business, including trading in virtual markets, and the vulnerability of traditional business models. The suitability of book publishing as a context for researching the emergence of knowledge-based business becomes all too apparent. Through combining primary research with secondary analysis drawn from the relevant literatures, Books, Bytes and Business is both a readable and informative account of business in the knowledge-based economy.

Popular culture has recognized urban gay men's use of the Web over the last ten years, with gay Internet dating and Net-cruising featuring as narrative devices in hit television shows. Yet to date, the relationship between urban gay male culture and digital media technologies has received only limited critical attention. Gaydar Culture explores the integration of specific techno-cultural practices within contemporary gay male sub-culture. Taking British gay culture as its primary interest, the book locates its critical discussion within the wider global context of a proliferating model of Western 'metropolitan' gay male culture. Making use of a series of case studies in the development of a theoretical framework through which past, present and future practices of digital immersion can be understood and critiqued; this book constitutes a timely intervention into the fields of digital media studies, cultural studies and the study of gender and sexuality.

This book draws on a wide selection of interdisciplinary literature discussing complex adaptive systems - including scholarship from economics, political science, evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and religion - to apply general complexity tenets to the institutions, conceptual framework, and theoretical justifications of the copyright system, both in the United States and internationally. The author argues that copyrighted works are the products of complex creative systems and, consequently, designers of copyright regimes for the global 'information ecosystem' should look to complexity theory for guidance. Urging legal scholars to undertake empirical studies of real-world copyright systems, Tussey reveals how the selection of workable configurations for the copyright regime is larger than that encompassed by the traditional, entirely theoretical, debate between private property rights and the commons. Finally, this unique study articulates how copyright law must tolerate certain chaotic elements that may be essential to the sustainability of complex systems.

Sweeping changes have taken place in the financial sector during the twentieth century. Two of the most notable changes have been the growth of global markets and institutions, and the introduction of computerisation. This volume charts the course of concentration and internationalisation in banking and also examines the influence and implications of new technologies on the industry's record-keeping practices. The exploration of concentration and internationalisation begins in the late nineteenth century and examines the effect of a wide range of factors, from macro-economic influences such as the liquidity crisis of the 1930s and the oil price rises of the 1970s, to the role of national regulation in the creation of financial markets and innovative products. The role of individual banks and their particular policies is also brought into focus. Some of Europe's most eminent bankers provide a contemporary dimension by discussing possible future developments in continental banking.

Electronic imaging and digital applications have brought numerous benefits for museums, galleries, archives and other organizations in the arts, culture and heritage sectors. Bringing together leading international practitioners from different disciplines, the EVA (Electronic Imaging and the Visual Arts) conferences help those working in the field to gain the most from developments in multimedia technology. This accessible volume collects recent papers from EVA conferences, covering case studies from the world's greatest institutions, as well as from some of the smallest and most innovative. Topics covered include virtual reconstruction of destroyed buildings, digital image archiving, 2D and 3D digitization projects, website evaluation, virtual archaeology, handheld interactive visitor support, exploiting digital cultural heritage and electronic aids for non-speaking people, as well as summaries of international research and technology development. The volume presents in convenient form the wealth of experience of a great variety of international specialists, allowing readers to further enhance the visitor experience of their collections.

What shapes the role of Information and Communication Technologies in our everyday life? Despite the speed with which information and communication technologies such as the PC, mobile telephone and internet have found their way into society, there remains a good deal of debate surrounding their adoption and use. Through empirical studies covering a broad range of everyday life and work settings, this volume provides grounded insights into the social dynamics influencing how ICTs are both shaped and experienced. Specifically, the book examines the contributions of diverse disciplines to our understanding of these processes, the symbolic nature of technologies, the influence of design on the experience of ICTs, the role of users in influencing that design, the social constraints affecting the use of those technologies, and strategies for evaluating the social consequences of ICT innovations.

Whether termed the 'network society', the 'knowledge society' or the 'information society', it is widely accepted that a new age has dawned, unveiled by powerful computer and communication technologies. Yet for millennia humans have been recording knowledge and culture, engaging in the dissemination and preservation of information. In `The Early Information Society', the authors argue for an earlier incarnation of the information age, focusing upon the period 1900-1960. In support of this they examine the history and traditions in Britain of two separate but related information-rich occupations - information management and information science - repositioning their origins before the age of the computer and identifying the forces driving their early development. `The Early Information Society' offers an historical account which questions the novelty of the current information society. It will be essential reading for students, researchers and practitioners in the library and information science field, and for sociologists and historians interested in the information society.

Crowdsourcing, or asking the general public to help contribute to shared goals, is increasingly popular in memory institutions as a tool for digitising or computing vast amounts of data. This book brings together for the first time the collected wisdom of international leaders in the theory and practice of crowdsourcing in cultural heritage. It features eight accessible case studies of groundbreaking projects from leading cultural heritage and academic institutions, and four thought-provoking essays that reflect on the wider implications of this engagement for participants and on the institutions themselves. Crowdsourcing in cultural heritage is more than a framework for creating content: as a form of mutually beneficial engagement with the collections and research of museums, libraries, archives and academia, it benefits both audiences and institutions. However, successful crowdsourcing projects reflect a commitment to developing effective interface and technical designs. This book will help practitioners who wish to create their own crowdsourcing projects understand how other institutions devised the right combination of source material and the tasks for their 'crowd'. The authors provide theoretically informed, actionable insights on crowdsourcing in cultural heritage, outlining the context in which their projects were created, the challenges and opportunities that informed decisions during implementation, and reflecting on the results. This book will be essential reading for information and cultural management professionals, students and researchers in universities, corporate, public or academic libraries, museums and archives.

This important book addresses critical themes in the development of archaeology as a reflexive, self-critical discipline in the modern world. It explores the ethical, political and cultural tensions and responsibilities which need to be addressed by archaeologists when working within networks of global ecologies and communities, examining how authoritarian traditions can exacerbate the divide between expert and public knowledge. Moreover, it analyses how localized acts of archaeology relate to changing conceptions of risk, heritage, culture, identity, and conflict. Bringing insights from Alain Schnapp, Michael Shanks, Isabelle Stengers, Bruno Latour, Ulrich Beck, John Urry and others to cross-disciplinary discussions of these themes, Unquiet Pasts shows how archaeological discourse can contribute towards engaging and understanding current dilemmas. It also shows how archaeology, as a localized and responsibly exercised practice, can play a part in building our commonly shared and experienced world.

In 1942 an advisory board to the Library of Congress drafted a proposal for a national program of cooperation among research libraries, aimed at acquiring "at least one copy of every book published anywhere in the world, which might conceivably be of interest to a research worker in America." Each participating library would acquire books in its assigned subject areas, catalog them, and send cards to the National Union Catalog. And thus was born the Farmington Plan, which began operation in 1948 under the sponsorship of the Association of Research Libraries. In 1972, nearly a decade after a two-year investigation revealed the project was failing, the plan was abandoned, but the concept of cooperative acquisitions of foreign library materials remains viable under several other programs today. A chance encounter with a long forgotten copy of The Farmington Plan Handbook led Ralph Wagner to investigate the most famous "failed experiment on library cooperation." The result of Wagner's decade of research is the first in-depth study of the plan's shortcomings and achievements. A History of The Farmington Plan is at once a history of the term itself and the numerous connotations attached to it. Includes copious references to archival sources previously unavailable. An informative read for students of library history and for anyone involved in consortium development. Useful as a basis for understanding the growing phenomenon of international cooperation among libraries.